At least 129 people died during an attempted jailbreak in Congo’s main prison in the capital, authorities said on Tuesday (September 3, 2024), most of them killed in a stampede.

A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were shot dead by “warning” gunshots as they tried to escape from the overcrowded Makala prison in Kinshasa early Monday, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani said on the social platform X.

Makala prison, Congo’s main penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, holds over 12,000 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, Amnesty International said in its latest country report. The facility has recorded previous jailbreaks, including in 2017 when an attack by a religious sect freed dozens.

Gunfire inside the prison started around midnight on Sunday into Monday morning, residents said. A senior government official earlier said only two deaths were confirmed during the incident, a figure disputed by rights activists.